A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation. When rain falls in deserts, as it occasionally does, it is often with great violence. The desert surface is evidence of this with dry stream channels known as arroyos or wadismeandering across its surface. These can experience flash floods, becoming raging torrents with surprising rapidity after a storm that may be many kilometers away. There are usually two or three variations of a desert climate: a hot desert climate (BWh), a cold desert climate (BWk) and, sometimes, a mild desert climate (BWh/BWn). Furthermore, to delineate "hot desert climates" from "cold desert climates", there are three widely used isotherms: either a mean annual temperature of 18 °C (which is the most accurate and most commonly used), or a mean temperature of 0 °C or −3 °C in the coldest month, so that a location with a "BW" type climate with the appropriate temperature above whichever isotherm is being used is classified as "hot arid" (BWh), and a location with the appropriate temperature below the given isotherm is classified as "cold arid" (BWk). (watch video)
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A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to the processes of denudation.
When rain falls in deserts, as it occasionally does, it is often with great violence. The desert surface is evidence of this with dry stream channels known as arroyos or wadismeandering across its surface. These can experience flash floods, becoming raging torrents with surprising rapidity after a storm that may be many kilometers away.
There are usually two or three variations of a desert climate: a hot desert climate (BWh), a cold desert climate (BWk) and, sometimes, a mild desert climate (BWh/BWn). Furthermore, to delineate "hot desert climates" from "cold desert climates", there are three widely used isotherms: either a mean annual temperature of 18 °C (which is the most accurate and most commonly used), or a mean temperature of 0 °C or −3 °C in the coldest month, so that a location with a "BW" type climate with the appropriate temperature above whichever isotherm is being used is classified as "hot arid" (BWh), and a location with the appropriate temperature below the given isotherm is classified as "cold arid" (BWk).
(watch video)
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